Marissa Haegele
The offseason brings student athletes plenty of free time as the academic year winds down.
Maybe a little too much free time.
After Maryland sophomore guard Jaylen Brantley posted a pair of Instagrams video of him and his teammates dancing, the college basketball world was set ablaze with what appears to be a hybrid version of the running man.
Who wanna battle?????? @jnickens_
WASSUP WIT IT????? @jnickens_ @krisjenk2 @mikalbridges @iam_objxiii @chrisbrownofficial @mw_ru5 @hallywood_3 @nvzml @damontedodd35 @seth04 A video posted by Jaylen Brantley (@jaybriddle_1) on Apr 14, 2016 at 4:39pm PDT
The catchy song playing in the background is Ghost Down DJ’s “My Boo” from 1996, and its infectious beat went beyond the Maryland basketball team in a hurry.
Wisconsin’s very own Nigel Hayes could not resist getting in on the action himself, as he took the Big Ten beef with the Terrapins off the court and onto the dance floor with a little help from freshman teammates Charlie Thomas and Khalil Iverson.
Y’all was smooth, but my boys (@iversonn24 & @s1r_charles ) and I had to 1-up y’all! @JNICKENS_ @JAYBRIDDLE_1 @damontedodd35 @BIGSMOOVE2 @MIKALBRIDGES #dancewar #1stplace A video posted by @nigel_hayes on Apr 17, 2016 at 12:19pm PDT
Initially, the Maryland squad didn’t respond and Hayes took that as a sign that they had won the short-lived dance battle.
But that doesn’t mean it ended there.
Instead, Hayes rounded even more troops and took to Instagram one more time, uploading a 45 second video claiming victory and tagging seemingly every college basketball player in the country to see.
Since @jnickens_ is waving the white flag, we’ll take the #runningmanchallenge victory! Y’all other fellas give up too… #yeswecanstilltrainandhavefun #puteminacoffin #easymoney @iversonn24 @s1r_charles @vitto33 @kingjayy11 @wdec0rah @zshowalter3 @mattferris4 @damontedodd35 @seth04 @JAYBRIDDLE_1 @dami0nlee @tc_carter21 @washfinest_20 @hallywood_3 @lawschool4 @drobinsoniii @kingmoses33 @denzelvalentine @marc_loving2 @buddylove242 @bjohnson_23 @MIKALBRIDGES @BIGSMOOVE2 @dillonbrooks24 @wayneseldenjr @kinggatz2.5 @houseofhighlights @bleacherreport @espn @sportscenter @sportsnation A video posted by @nigel_hayes on Apr 18, 2016 at 9:10pm PDT
The Terrapins, however, ended up taking notice of Hayes’ callout and posted one more video before the night was over.
Last one for a while with my brother @jnickens_ ………….where y’all at? @mikalbridges @bigsmoove2 @dami0nlee @seth04 @olem__ @tc_carter21 @jlindsey21 @dmill_304 @drobinsoniii @michaelamabrey @nigel_hayes @hallywood_3 @nvzml @cporter_ @houseofhighlights …photo CREDS @damontedodd35 … #houseofhighlights
Whether Hayes and his pack of Badgers will respond yet again is yet to be seen, but there is little reason to believe that this battle is over.